Armor-plate



4 Sheets-Sheet l.

Patented Mar. I4, |899.

0. F. LEIBEHT.

ARMOR PLATE.

(Application filed Nov. 17, 1898. Renewed Aug. 13, 189B.)

(No Model.)

Patented Mar. I4, |899. 0. F. LEIBERT.

No. 62i,259.

ARMOR PLATE.

(Application fxled Nov. 17, 1896. Ruewed Aug. 13, 1893.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

Pa-tened Mar. I4, |899.

o. F. LEIBEBT..

ARMOR PLATE.

(Application ld Nov. 17, 1896. Renewed Aug. 13, 1898.).

4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

woe/Mofa aww/umg 6 0.4F. LEIBERT.

Amann PLATE.

(Application filed Nov. 17, i896. Renewed Aug. 13, 1898.) (No Model.) 4Sheets-Sheet 4.

Patented Mar. I4, |899.

OWEN F. LEIBEE', OF BETHLElIEl-I, PENNSYLVANIA.

ARMOR LATE.

SPECIFICATEION forming part of Letters Patent No, 62l,259, dated March14, 1899. Application lcrl November 17, 1896. Renewed August 13, 1898..Serial No, 6%#534v (No model To will 'whom it moy concern:

Beit known that i, OWEN F. LEXBERT, acitizen of the United States,residing at Bethlehem, Northampton county, State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Armor-Plates, of whichthe following is a specification.

M y invention relates to the mamifucture ot armor-plates, and halsforitsobject to improve and simplitysuch manufacture; and to these endsmy invcniion consists in the method o1" and apparatus for manufacturingarmorplatcs.

lVhi-le my process lis designed more especially for manufacturingarmor-plate-such as is used in ships of war, coast defenses, (Sha-itisalso alzplcl-oie fm' other purposes, such as thc manufacture ofhurnlaproof constructions and other constructions where it is desired toprovide hartilfaced metallic lbodies, and while herein l shall describemy invention more particularly as applied to the man naetnre ofarmor-plates it will he understood that the Qrinciples ot'iny inventioncan he utilized for other and various purposes hy those skilled in theart and be modified to adapt them. to the particular purposes for whichthey are intended. l,

It is Well known that in the manufacture of armor-plates and the like itis desirable to produce a plate the outer surface ol' which shall berelatively hard, while the inner portion or hacking shall be relativelysoft and toiigli,and many and Variousnieans have been suggested foraccomplishing this 1esult,\vliich need not he recited herein. By myinvention, broadl y stated, l accomplish this result hy burning hardstool onto the surface of thc softer steel. This'is accomplished,generally stated, by first cleaning the surface of the softer steel bythe use of' molten cast-iron"4 and then applying the molten stoel to thesu rface and depositing thercona su ilicicnt quantityto produce a hardsurface. r

Thus in carrying' out my invention l take the sott-steel ingots, slabs,or plates to be treated and heat them invsuitahle furnaces or otherwiseand then pour over the surface of the heated ingot, slab, or platemolten cast-ironnnd allenI it to run over the whole surface and off,preferably into a suitable trough, so that it can he used again, and inthis way l carryv away nil slugs as Ylast as they are formed on theheated surface of the arti'- cle being treated. Then the article isclean enough, molten steel is applied tothe surface in the some mannerand allo'vved to run thereover, further cleaning the surface or" thesteel, it' necessary, and then hy the nso of suitable dams or otherwisea deposit of the molten steel is made upon the face ol' the article andallowed to cool. The reason for-using the molten castiron for cleansingilhc surface v that it is chen-por than the steel need for inaliing theplate and does not chill cs rapidly, and it is for this reason advagenus to use molten cast-iron c cleanser before the inolten steel isapplied to the surface o theheated in got 'or plate; 'but when themolten steel is applied to the heated plate in the iirst instance itrequires more steel to do the cleansing, Washing, and burning than` whenthe iolten esst -iron is used. 'in this procese some of the moltenabsorbed by the article being treated, as well as the slags removedtherefrom, and the ticle seing treated will kept at the prei frtemperature and thc oxidation of its surface will vnractically heprevented, and then when the molten hard steel run on the excess el thecast or pig iron will be Washed oft, making; a clean surface, so that itwill he in. a condition to receivev the desired quantity of hard steeland hnrn or unite it vwith the .surface of the article,` forming apractical and substantial union between the tivo.

The ingots, slabs, or pistes may be either ot forged, rolled, or caststeel, according to the purposes tor which 'they are to hc used,

and 'thc layer or face of hardstcel burned J thereon nnry he ot' thethickness desired.I and 'I havo found that in "his way a most etlfectivcarmor-pl ate may be made, havingexcecdingly high ballistic qualities,and at the saine time the plates can he cheaply and quicklyproduced,\vith relatively little labor and expense compared with theusual processes of prodncing such articles. The articlelitself proves tobe an improved plato, practically homogcncous and having thc desiredresistance qualities to penetration by shells and the like to a highdegree, combining the advantages ol' tho hard surface plato 'with thirtoughness of thc softer stoel hacking,"

cast orpigiron will be lry improved process or method may be carried outin many and various ways and by many and various means, and I will newproceed to describe what l have found to be a convenient and practicalmeans, it being understood that my invention is not limited to thedetails of construction or arrangement 'of per ris hereinafter setforth, they being typical and snllicient to indihcate to those skilledin the art how the invention may be practically lied. v

in the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a sectional plan view of abuilding, together with a general plant preferably employed in thepractice of luy invention, said plant com prisiug melting and heatingfurnaces properly disposed wit-hin the building, as well ascasting-pits, an operatingplatform, an operating-cham ber, and otheraccessories. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on theliuc scar, Fig. l, and showing more clearly the general disposition andarrangement of the operating-platform, the several furnaces, and thelifting or elevating devices for the molten metals. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal sectional elevation taken about centrally. Fig. Ai is anenlarged sectional view in detail of .he operating chamber and some ofthe accessories thereto. tail view in plan of the preferred form ofmovable trough for supplying or delivering the molten metals to thefaces or surfaces of the metal plates or slabs being treated; and p Fig.6 is adetailview, in vertical section, of a modification in theconstruction of the tilting platform by which vto enable plates or'slabs of different sizes or dimensions to be moreconveniently handledorti'eated.

ln the manufacture of hard-faced armorplates the plates may be firstshaped into the desired form, whetller by forging, rolling, or casting,and are brought to a proper temperature for the subsequent operations byheating rhein in a furnace, and l have shown a u number ofheating-furnaces arranged'in a convenient relation to anopelating-platforln and melting-furnaces, with apparatus so arrangedthat the process may be practically continuelle and the'molten cast orpig iron,v as well as the molten hard steel, be llsed over and over,except so much of the latter as is applied or burned onto the surface ofthe plato.

In the drawings, l` represents a building of :any suitable size ordimensions, and 2 desighates casting-pits, such as are usually elnpioyedin p its of this kind. At suitable parte of the building llocateheating-furnaces :.i, of which suitable number may be em- :frfurnaces may be of any struetiomeaeii being w .il a sta-cl( 4, locatedon :;tending above i .ng iurnaces and l reci perniv ure by wh ich Fig. 5is an enlarged de metal plates or slabsV elche-5e to better adapt themto the reception of the hardening materiahwhichis subsequently applied'.

5f represents ali-y'suitable melting-furnace ill-which. the pig or castiron is brought to a molten condition, and 6 represents alsoamelting-furnace which in the present instance is employed. for themolten hard steel, each of the said furnaces having a spout 7, and eachof them` also/ communicating with a stack 8 on the outer side of thebuilding. Thesesaid furnaces are preferably located at the edge of thecasting-pits 2, and the ladles 9, which receive the molten metals, arearranged in the pit beneath said spouts, so as to receive the 'metalsflowing therefrom. Above the said melting-furnaces' 5 and 6 is arrangedan operating-platform 10, centrally of which is arranged theoperating-cham ber, in which the plate to be treated is placed 'andoperated upon. This operating-chamber l1 comprises any general form ofchamber in which is located a tilting platform l2, centrally pivoted at13 and capable of being tilted to one side or the other by any suitablemeans, but preferably by a hydraulic ram 14, having a rod 15, connectingat lflwith the underside of the said tilting platform; Mounted upon thisplatform 12 are a number of suitable pillars or posts 17, preferably ofbrick or masonr and upon which the plate 2O is1aid,substan tially asshown in Fig. il.' At each side of the said tilting platform thesupports 22 are preferably constructed to receive the edges of theplate, and they are provided with an opening 23 at a suitable height,and it isthrough these openings that the molten metal flows (when theplatform is tilted to one'side or the other) into .the trough 25, whencethe metal is delivered to the open ends 26 of passages or conduits 27,leading from the floor of the operating-platform to the upper part ofthe y melting-furnaces 5 and 6, respectively. As shown in Fig. 4, theupper part of the said operating-chamber ll is removable, and the sameis taken off at such time as the metal is being poured over the surfaceof the plate being treated, and, as shown in Fig. 2, suitable rails areextended across the said chamber in such manner as to enable thedelivery-truck for the molten metals to be moved back and forthlongitudinally, so as to properly distribute such metals vupon thesurface of the plate. The rails are designated as 30 and thedelivery-trough as 3l, the said trough being preferablyof an L shape andof properdepth, ono leg thereof being formed or provided at its bottomwith a series of openings 32 for the passage of the molten metals, whilethe other leg thereof is for the reception of the molten metals from theladle employed for conveying the same from the melting-furnaces.' Thissaid delivery-trough 3l is provided with suitable wheels 3l, whichtravel on the rails 30, and inaddition to the trough being movablelengthwise of the rails the same is also cavl OO ITO' plained withreference to the softer plate, with the slight diierence that infinishing the work a larger percentage of molten steel would be usedthan inthe case of the hard facing of softer metals.

In describing my invention above I have referred to heatingfurnaces inwhich the metal plates or slabs are placed and brought to the requiredtemperature by which to better adapt them for the reception of thehardening material which is subsequently applied. Theseheating-furnaces, it will be understood, are only employed iu thoseinstances in which the slab or ingot has been previously cast, anditwilLbe understood that my invention comprehends the casting of theslab or ingot, say, for instance, in the operating chamber referred toand then immediately subjecting the slab or ingot to the process ofhard-faci ngsuch as has already been described. By this means it will beat once understood that I utilize the initial heat for hard-facingpurposes instead of being obliged to heat the in got or slab, as isnecessary in the instance first above described with reference to theheating-furnaces'.

It will be seen that in carrying out theprocess of burning the twometals together the surface of the heated foundation-plate or slab iscleansed while exposed to the action of the atmosphere by pouring orruiming over the surface of the same the molten metal either in the formof cast-iron or the steel' which is subsequent to be united therewith toform the armor-p ate. Of course the foundationplate, while heated, isnot heated to a degree sufficient to.. render it molten; but the metalto be applied'or united thereto, Whether the harder or the softer steel,is molten and is poured or run over the face or surface of thefoundation-plate, and this surface is heated to a temperature sufficientto insure the burning or intimate union of the molten metal with thefoundation-plate, so that the resulting article is an integralarmor-plate made up of two metalsof diereut degrees of hardness unitedor burned together while exposed to the action `of the atmosphere.

What I claim is-- 1. The method of producingacompon nd armor-platehaving a 'face of hard metal and a back of soft metal, which consists inprovid-I ing a foundation-plate of one of said metals, heating andcleaning the surface of said foundation-plate by passing over it amolten metal and then applying to the surface thus heated h and cleanseda layer of the other metal, suit-k'J able for the face or back of thecompound plate, and allowing it to unite with said foundation-plate,substantially as described.

2.J The method of producinga compound armor-plate having a faceof hardmetal and a back of soft metal, which consists in providingafoundation-plate of relativelysoft metal, heating and cleansing thesurface ofsaid fenndatien-plate by passing overita molten metal, andthen applying to the surface thus heated and cleansed a layer of hardmetal and allowstantially as described.

3. rlhe method of producinga compound armor-plate having a face of hardmetal, and a back of soft metal, which consists in providugafoundation-plate of relatively soft metal, heating and cleansing thesurface of said fou ndation-plate by passing over it molten castiren,and then applying to the surface thus heated and cleansed a layer ofsteel and allowing it to unite with said foundation-plate, substantiallyas described.

4. The method of producingacompound armor-plate having a face of hardmetal and a back of soft metal, which consists in provid- Iingafoundation-plate of relativelysoft metal,- heating and cleaning thesurface of said foundation-plate by passing over it a molten metal,

ing it to unite with said foundation-plate, subthen passing over thesurface thus heated and cleansed molten hard steehand finally depositingsaid steel upon the surface tothe required thickness and allowing it tounite with said foundation-plate, substantially as described.

5. In apparatus for the manufacture of armor-plates, the combination ofa heating-fu rnace for the plate, amelting-furnace for pigiron, amelting-furnace for steel, au operating-chamber 'for eiecting theburning of the plate, and means for conveying the molten metals from theoperating-chamber to the said melting-furnaces respectively,substantially as described.

(i. In apparatus for the manufacture of armor-plates, the combinationof-a heating-furnace for the plate, a melting-furnace forpigiron, ameltinff-furnace for steel, an operating or burning chamber forltheplate comprising a tilting platform and means for tilting the same ineither direction, and a movable trough for distributing th e moltenmetals over the surface of the plate,l substantially as described.

7. In apparatus for the manufacture of armor-plates, the combination ofa heating-furnace for the plate, a melting-furnace for pigiron, amelting-furnace for stesi, an operat-' ing or burning chamber for theplate comprising a tilting platform and means for tilting the same toone side or the other, a movable trough for distributing the moltenmetals over the surface of the plate, and means for elevating the moltenmot-als to said trough, substantially as described. 4

8. vIn apparatus for the manufacture of armor-plates, the combinationofa heating-furnace for the plate, amelting-furnace forpigiron, amelting-furnace for stoel, an operating-chamber, means for distributingthe molten metals over the surface of the platein the operating-chamber,and ponts and conduits for conveying the molten metals back to themelting-furnaces, substantially as described.

9. In apparatus for the manufacture t arin or-plates, the combination ofa heating-fu rnace for the plate, a melting-furnace for pig-ironyamelting-urnace for steel, and an operating or burnii ,g chamber for theplato Ico IIO

2o metals, and a supporting-rail therefor, .and

eee,

comprising a tilting platform and supporting-pillars for the plate,substantially as cles'cribed.

' 10. 'In apparatusfor'the manufacture of armor-plates, the combinationof a heating-fur'- na'ce for the plate, a melting-furnace for pig.-iron, a melting-furnace for steel, an operating or burning chamberfortlie plate comprising a tilting platform and supporting-pillars forthe platte, a distributing device for the molten metals, an elevatingdevice for the metals, and conduits for conveying the metals from theoperating-chamber back to the melting-furnaces, substantially asdescribed.

11. Inl apparatus for the manufacture of armor-plates, the combinationof a heating-furnace for the plate, melting-furnaces for pigiron andsteel, an operating or burning chamber for the plate, adistributing-trough f or the means for imparting a sidewise movement toseid trough as itis moved along its rail, sub

stantially ar? described. Y

l2l In apparatus for the manufacture of armor-plates, the combinationofone or more heating-furnaces, melting-furnaces -for pigiron and steel,an operating or burning chamber for the plate, a movable trough fordistributing the molten metals over the surface of the plate, and ladlesand a traveling or movable crane for elevating the'molten metals fromsaid melting-.furnaces to the said trough, substantially as described.

- In testimony whereof I have 'signed my name to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

v v OWEN F. LEIBERT.. Witnesses:

HENRY A. KRAUSVE, R. WI. LEIBERT".

